Chapter 227 - Returning a sash
After watching Monk get pulled into the deep Fog in replace for herself. Martha immediately started to head into the direction where Monk had been pulled. But as she stepped forward again, Dan grabbed her hand and pulled her back.
"No Martha, what are you doing?" Said Dan, "We don't even know what's down there."
"But Monk is, we have to save him!"
"Look all we can do right now is listen to what Monk said and go back to the city and get more help. The sooner we go the quicker we can go look for him."
That's when the group realised that the fog was moving. The foggy area around them started to thin out until it eventually moved ahead in front of them like a type of cloud. Then when the fog continued to move, they could finally see where they were.
At first, the group thought they were at some type of cliff top. As it looked like they were over the edge of something. That's when they realised that It wasn't a cliff but a giant hole that was 30 meters wide and 30 meters long.
"Do you think he's down there?" Badger asked staring into the whole.
"Well, he did get pulled into there, what is this thing?" Sloth asked. "It looks like the hole leads under the swamp. Not only that but it looks like it's been dugout.
"You don't mean that you think this is the beast do you?" Dan asked.
"Think about it, what else could be so strong to take out those beasts, it would have to at least be this big."
Martha didn't say much. She was too busy stuck in her own thoughts. If only she hadn't moved forward at that time. Then she would have been the one to fall down instead of Monk. This was the second time in her life that Monk had saved her. And here she was hesitating about going inside.
The group held a vote deciding whether to head back or to look around the area. In the end, the only one that wanted to stay was Martha but they couldn't leave her on her own. Before heading back to the city, the group walked around the large circle but no traces of Monk or the beast were found.
****
"Monk has gone missing!" Slyvia shouted, "I thought you said they would be safe?"
Once the group had arrived back and made a report an emergency meeting was called between the elders and other master knights.
"I'm sorry." Sir K replied, "I had great confidence in Monk, no matter what came at them, even if it was a king Tier beast, I was sure that Monk would at least be able to escape with the group but it appears an unexpected fog clouded the group's vision."
"Send out a search party immediately Sir K, I want you to go yourself this time."
The second search party consisted of the same members as last time, only Kyle had been added as well. Although Slyvia insisted on a bigger search party the Knights were spread thin helping out the neighbouring cities. Even Kyle had just got back from completing a mission.
Sir K also said it would be best to send a small group like last time. There would be fewer casualties and the enemy wouldn't see them coming.
The group searched day after day in that swamp, camping night after night. But they could never find the large hole that had appeared last time.
"Are you sure it was here?" Sir K asked.
"I'm positive." Dan replied, "Right guys?"
Although the group wasn't sure if it was the right place or not, they certainly remembered heading in this direction before the fog appeared.
After a week of searching, Slyvia had no choice but to call off the search party for Monk. If he hadn't been found by now there was a high chance, they would ever find him. The news was devastating to Martha and she had refused to leave her room.
It became worse when Martha had checked the list of active members of the Red wings and Monk's name was removed.
Her friends had gone to visit her one by one but it was impossible to get her to cheer up. That's when Slyvia came up with an idea, all Martha needed right now was hope that Monk was still alive. She opened up the system and sent a message to Ray.
At this point of time, Ray was just outside the dungeon waiting for Gary to remove the gauntlet from the demon man. That's when he received a message.
"Can you check if Monk is on your list Ray, for some reason we can't see him," Slyvia asked.
Ray then opened down his menu and started to look through all the members of the Red wings. Then he spotted Monk's name and written next to it in brackets was (Contract Broken.)
Ray honestly didn't know what this meant. Ray assumed if someone had died, they would just be taken off the list. Or the system would state they were dead. But here it said the contract had been broken. The only thing Ray could think of was something with higher magical power then his own had broken the contract.
The news was reported back to Slyvia but it wasn't the news she was expecting and decided to hide this from Martha.
Then one day, at noon, Monk had returned out of nowhere. He had requested a meeting with the elders and other master knights. The meeting was accepted and Monk patiently waited in the room for everyone.
That's when everyone entered including Monk's friends and Martha but when they saw Monk. He looked different. The armour he was wearing was darker in colour and more heavy than usual.
But the biggest difference in Monk was his eyes. They looked almost empty as if all emotion had been taken out from them.
Martha had planned to run up to Monk and give him a big hug as soon as she saw him. However, after seeing Monk like this, she found it hard to say anything.
"I am here to return this," Monk said as he placed his black sash onto the table.